When Yuuri woke up, the following morning to their arrival, he found Wolfram had already left. Wolfram had left a message, on the dresser, stating he had business in town in the early morning. Also it stated that Wolfram's older brother and wife were coming for lunch, but Wolfram would be there before they arrived. Yuuri took a quick shower, dressed, and went down stairs to eat breakfast, but not before looking out the bedroom window.

The window overlooked a majestic garden. Along the pathways of the garden, the banks were adorned with the beautiful yellow flowers that he had seen the previous night. In some areas there were green flowers secretively poking out among the yellows. There were the usual areas of roses, lilies, and sub-tropical flowers. Off the right side of the garden was a greenhouse. Yuuri noticed a pathway, that was not adorned by the yellow flowers, leading behind and away from the greenhouse. To the left there was a line of trees that blocked the view to the driveway, and out to the far end was a an oversized lawn. Yuuri's eyes pooped open when he noticed the lawn. The lawn was a perfect place to practice baseball! He had to explore the lawn with his baseball bat and ball, and so he quickly left the room to have a quick breakfast.

Yuuri was wearing a pair of black jeans, a white t-shirt, and trainers. As soon as he exited the bedroom, he did a a one-eighty and returned to the room. He now understood why Wolfram said the house was cold. The hallway was damn chilly. He wondered why, and how the bedroom and bathroom were comfortably warm. He grabbed his official Dragons' blue, hooded, fleece jacket and put it on.

Now that he was properly dressed to walk down the hallway, he made his way to breakfast. Along the corridor he noticed several paintings, which he presumed, were of Wolfram's family or ancestors. He had been so tired and overwhelmed the night before, that he had not noticed the two grand paintings at the top of the staircase. The first painting was of a very handsome and imposing man. The man wore clothing from a distant past, frilly shirt, tights, and red cape included. He was blond, had sapphire eyes, and a powerful yet caring, smile. What amazed Yuuri the most, than the man's imposing features, was that he looked like Wolfram's twin brother except with blue eyes.

The second painting was that of a slender built man. The man had long black hair and black eyes. He too was dressed in distant past clothing. He wore a dark blue clothing and no cape. Where as the blond man had a sword to his side, the second man held books. The man was gently smiling, but it did not exude power like the blonde man's smile. The man's smile was all knowing - cunning. Yuuri looked at both paintings. The blond man seamed like a king whilst the black hair man seamed like a great wise man. Yuuri heard someone talk to him from the bottom of the staircase. He turned to see Gunter waiting for him. "Good morning sir," Gunter said.

"Good morning Gunter. I was just coming down for breakfast. Where's the kitchen?" Yuuri gave the butler a broad smile as he walked down the stairs. Yuuri could have sworn the man was swaying when he replied, "How noble of you to want to associate yourself with the staff, but breakfast is always served in the dinning room." Yuuri was about to tell Gunter that he always had breakfast in the kitchen, but decided it was best not to contradict the butler. He was now living in a different world with different customs.

Gunter showed him to the dinning room. When Yuuri walked in he had to blink twice to appreciate what he was seeing. In the middle of the room was a long mahogany dinning table that could easily sit twenty people. Above the table were two large chandeliers. At the far end was a large window. Off to the right side was a four meter buffet which held several chaffing dishes, urns, pitchers of juice, trays of fruit and breakfast rolls, breads, and cold meats. To the left side of the room was a door which Yuuri presumed led to the kitchen. "I hope it is all to your liking sir? There are some newspapers on the table for you to choose from," Gunter said as he pointed to a thin-long rectangle table along the left wall. "Thank you Gunter," Yuuri said. And with that Gunter left and Yuuri was left alone in the room.

Yuuri walked over the the buffet table. He opened one of the chaffing dishes. It contained long, thing, red, sausages. He opened another and there were fat and long white sausages. He opened another, and (he should have known) there were thick, short, sausages. He opened the forth chaffing dish, and to his surprise it did not contain sausages but creamy looking scrambled eggs. The fifth and last chaffing dish contained what looked like smoked and burnt trout. He looked over at the cold meat tray. There was a grand variety of deli meats which he could not disconcert. He looked over the items set before him and two things popped into his mind. The first one was that he missed his morning rice and miso, and the second thing was that the staff went overboard welcoming him with such a grand breakfast. He decided on a breakfast roll and tea.

Yuuri sat down at the end of the table. He began to eat his roll and drink his tea. He looked around the room. The drapes around the window were of green velvet. Hanging on the walls were the usual still paintings of fruit and flowers. He looked towards the end of the table. He wondered if Wolfram and him would be having dinner in there. If they did, the would probably need a megaphone just to be able to talk with each other.

When he finished his roll he went over to the newspapers. He looked at them. There were two financial newspapers, two national newspapers, and a local newspapers. He was kind of disappointed that there was no sports newspaper. He figured that Wolfram might have taken it with him. He picked up one of the national papers thinking it might have some sports highlights in it. With newspaper in hand, he left the dinning room.

Once in the grand hall, he decided that before he went to the lawn he saw previously, he would explore the house. He went towards a set of large doors in front of him. He entered the room. He had entered the library/living room. The room was quite spacious. At the far end was a large fireplace. At the opposite end of the room was a large, ceiling to floor window which overlooked the garden. The windows were opened letting in the morning breeze. There was a large white sofa and a settee. In front of the sofa was a coffee table. There were also two wingback chairs, a bookcase took up the opposite wall of the window (ladder included), lamps, and what appeared to be a poker table.

"Excuse me sir," a voice said behind Yuuri. He turned to face the voice. "This room is generally not used in the morning. If you like I could light the fire for you? I have lit the fire in the morning room. " Gunter said.

"No, that is fine. Where is the morning room?" Yuuri asked.

"This way sir," Gunter replied as he showed Yuuri to the morning room. "Um sir? Was breakfast not to your liking?"

"It was fine Gunter, I just usually have a light breakfast. The cook didn't have to make such a large breakfast to welcome me."

"Oh, but sir, that is the usual breakfast."

Yuuri was perplexed. Who else had breakfast in the dinning room? The staff? "Gunter? Um, who else has breakfast in the dinning room?"

"Just Lord Wolfram, and sometimes Lord Huber Grissela when he comes in the morning."

"So you mean to tell me all that food is just for two people?"

"Yes sir," Gunter replied.

Yuuri mumbled to himself, "What a waste."

"This is the morning room sir," Gunter said as he opened the door. "I presume that this will be your office. If there is anything you would like to change, please let me know."

Yuuri stood in the door way. Change? If he was going to be using this room as his office, there was definitely going to be some changes. The morning room was just that! The morning sun shined brightly through the paned window. The sunshine made the gold gilding of the Louie the XIVth, or was it the XVIth, furniture seem on fire. The white of the furniture and walls glowed yellow.

In front of the window was a white, spindle legged, desk. In front of the desk were two low back, spindled leg chairs that matched the desk. Between the desk and the window was a high back, spindle legged, wing chair.

Off to the right, of the door way, was a small tea table and a reading chair. Behind it was a white ornate bookcase. The books in the bookcase were placed in such a manner that the ornaments, which included various glass and porcelain vases, statuettes, and picture frames, displayed themselves proudly. On top of the tea table was a large vase with at least two dozen red roses.

Yuuri looked left. On the opposite wall was a fireplace with a lit fire. In front of the were two large cushions. Yuuri smiled brightly when he saw the cushions. One cushion was occupied by a black cocker spanial with blue eyes, and the other was occupied by a large, white with brown spots, black eyed boxer. The boxer sat up quickly when it saw Yuuri, and began wagging it's cropped tail. The cocker spaniel had lifted it's head and then dropped it back down ignoring Yuuri.

Yuuri walked over to the dogs, and knelt before them. He stretched out his arm to pet the happy boxer when the boxer lunged itself on Yuuri. It happily sniffed and licked Yuuri. Yuuri could only laugh at the friendly dog. "Calm down boy," Yuuri said as he pushed the dog back. "What is your name boy?" he said as he searched the dog collar. Yuuri found the tags and read the name. "Liesel? What kind of name is that?" He looked at the tag once more. Yuuri said as he held the dog's head in his hands. "So you belong to Wolf. Only Wolf could come up with a name like that." Yuuri scratched the dog's ears. "You are more of a Pochi than a Liesel! You're just too cute and friendly. Aren't you?" The dog barked once in agreeance.

Yuuri reached over to pet the cocker spaniel. The cocker sniffed Yuuri once and placed his head back down. Yuuri search for the tag and read: Raven. Owner – Elizabeth von Bielefeld. "Raven fits you perfectly," Yuuri said to the dog. Raven rose from the cushion and left the room through the open doorway. Yuuri just watched it leave and thought to himself 'I guess he misses her.'

Yuuri stood and went over to the desk. Liesel/Pochi followed him. On the desk were two old fashion, yet elegant telephones, a porcelain statuette of cupid, box with pigeon holes each hole labelled, a ink well, quill, blotter, and what appeared to be a filofax, an address book, and a sheet of paper. Yuuri sat down and picked up the sheet of paper. There was a menu written on it, and he wondered what it was for. He placed it off to the side.

He then took a good look at the address book and filofax. They were both crimson red had the letter 'E' embroidered in gold. He picked up the address book. The cover was made of thick satin silk. It was smooth to the touch. He imagined Elizabeth, with her dainty hands, opening the address book to call Mrs. So and So. Maybe she would call the Countess of Whatever. She would then gently open her filofax and write down the appointment and that specific date with her quill. He opened the address book and thumbed through it. There where names of Lords and Ladies, Counts, Countess, Marquis, Dukes, Knights, Lawyers, Accountants, etc... It read as a who's who of Shin Makoku.

He then opened the filofax. There where appointments for this, appointments for that, meet such and such Lady at such and such charity. He skimmed through the dates. The filofax was from three years past. It made since. He looked through the dates, and found something quite odd. There were only a couple of entries after the date of her boating accident. On the date of her accident there was only one entry: G. Green. He closed the filofax, and he traced with his index finger the gold embroidered 'E'.

How was he ever going to compare to Elizabeth. This was Elizabeth's office. Everything in there shouted out her name. Her style. Her world. Yuuri began to feel belittled by the room. She had probably chosen every decoration for the room. He felt like an intruder. He looked at the address book. The people in that book were her friends and acquaintances, and not his. The more he looked at the book, the more he felt that he did not belong in Wolfram's world.

RIIIIIIIING, RIIIIIING...

One of the phones started to ring startling Yuuri. He nervously picked up the receiver and quietly said hello. A female voice spoke to him, but he was so nervous that he did not pay attention to what was being said. The only thing that came to his mind to say was "I'm sorry, but Lady Elizabeth died three years ago," and he hung up. His heart beat fast. He felt something land on his thigh. Surprised, he jumped out of the chair knocking the desk. The desk wobbled. The porcelain cupid wobbled until it came crashing down onto the floor.

What had landed on his thigh was Liesel/Pochi's paw.

"OH Crap!" Yuuri said as he watched the cupid break into fragments. He bent down next to the fallen cupid and began to pick up the pieces. He wondered if it could be repaired. He wondered if it was expensive. He wondered how mad was Wolfram going to be. He wondered if he could find someone to fix it. Then he had a brilliant idea: he hid the fragments in the top right hand drawer of the desk. He would find someone to fix it eventually. He sat back down on the chair.

"Excuse me sir," said an ominous voice from the doorway. Yuuri slowly looked up. Mrs. Murata was standing in the entrance. Liesel/Pochi quickly went to his cushion. "Ye...Yes, Mr. I mean Mrs. Murata," Yuuri stuttered.

Mrs. Murata stepped up to the desk and stood between the two low back chairs. Her glasses were glazed over with the morning sunshine. "Cook tried calling you, on the house phone a few minutes ago, about the menu for today's lunch. She said you hung-up-on-her."

"O..O..OH! That's who it was? I'm so sorry," Yuuri continued to stutter.

"The menu is written on that sheet of paper," Mrs. Murata said as she pointed to the sheet of paper that was now laying on the side of the desk. "Have you read it? Do you approve of the menu? What sauce would you like with the main course?"

Yuuri picked up the paper and reread it. "It looks fine to me. I really don't know much about menus or sauces unless they are Japanese," he confessed.

"May I recommend the sauce that Lady Elizabeth von Bielefeld would choose?" Yuuri could have sworn he saw a smirk in the housekeepers lips.

"Of course, please do," he replied.

"Lady Elizabeth would have chosen the red wine reduction do go with the fillet."

"Oh, Okay,"

"Lady Elizabeth had the most refine taste in food. Of course, I being her right hand, knew her taste the best. If you like, I could take over the menu selection for you. It is of course what my mistress entrusted me to do!"

Yuuri fell silent. Once again Elizabeth's ghost was weighing down on him. Suffocating him. He had to get out. He had to get some air his lungs. He quickly stood up taking in deep breaths. "Come Pochi, let's go out to the gardens," he said. He walked over to the door way, and without looking back he said, "I trust your choice of menu's Mrs. Murata. If there is anything that I or Wolf would like to change, I'll make sure to tell you." He exited the room followed by Pochi.